Scream for Me (43 page)

He wouldn’t believe this killer’s lies. It took all of his strength to stand upright as the blood pulsed down his chest. “She’s…dead.”

“Judith wasn’t.” His hands were still up. His eyes glinted under Cadence’s light. “Susannah…was alive. I don’t like to kill my girls, despite what you may think.”

“No,” Cadence’s voice. “You like for them to kill each other, don’t you?”

James’s face tightened. “I have to punish the ones who don’t obey. If they just followed my rules, then they wouldn’t have to get hurt.”

“Bull,” Cadence snapped at him. “You love hurting them, that’s why you keep them bound in the dark. You love having the power over them.”

A grim smile curved his lips. “That’s true for some. But Susannah lived, didn’t she? I let her keep living because she followed my orders. She checked in with me every single day. Always did exactly what I ordered…”

“Until…” Pain pulsed through Kyle. “She came after you…with a gun.”

“She lived!” Fury beat in James’s words. “So how do you know others didn’t, too?”

“You’re not going to take us anywhere else in these caverns.” Cadence had her gun locked right under her light. Aimed at Anniston. “We’re all going to walk out of here. I’ve got handcuffs in my back pocket. I’m about to put them on you. So get your hands
up
and keep them up!”

Kyle staggered.

“I hope I didn’t nick his heart,” Anniston murmured, the fury seeming to vanish. “He’ll die if I did. Bleed out before help can arrive.”

The gun was sagging in Kyle’s hand.

“Did you ever find that second guard?” Anniston asked, cocking his head. “Ken Bailey…?” Then his voice rose, changed. “
P-please…someone c-cut me…
”

It was another perfect imitation of the desperate call they’d heard before.

Anniston smiled. “Someone did cut him, you know. Cut him, hid him. If you won’t go and find Maria, then maybe you’ll want to find him. He’s still alive.” A pause. “But then, Maria could be, too.”

The sick fuck just wanted them to keep walking in his darkness. He had a trap set for them.

“You want us all to die here,” Cadence said as she grabbed Anniston’s hand. She locked a cuff around his right wrist. Then his left. “But we aren’t. You’re not getting away with an easy death, no matter
what
you want.” Her body was between Kyle’s gun and Anniston’s black heart. “When you go to prison, the others will know you’re both an ex-cop and a freak who got off on torturing women. Just imagine all they’ll do to you. ’Cause I’m imagining it.”

Anniston laughed. “Your partner is going to be dead in the next two minutes.”

Cadence glanced over her shoulder at Kyle.

“Shine your light on his chest.”

Cadence’s light dipped to Kyle’s chest. He heard her sharp inhalation.

“I didn’t lie about the stroke, you know. It changed things for me. Made me realize…the world needed to know about the
legacy I’d left. I was in the hospital, recovering, thinking about my girls…”

Sick fuck
.

“And I opened the newspaper.” James’s voice had flattened. “There was a picture of you, Agent McKenzie. The big, tough agent who’d taken down another serial. Maria’s hero. You were on the cover of that paper. In the news, and I was
trapped
in that hospital bed!”

“You’re going to be trapped in a cell soon enough,” Cadence promised him.

“No, that’s not the end for me.” James was still too damn confident and cocky. “I wanted the world to know how smart I was—and how clueless the FBI was.” He rolled back his shoulders. “The Night Hunter.” It even sounded like a touch of awe was in the man’s voice. “That’s who I am, who everyone fears.”

Kyle didn’t fear him. He wanted to kill him.

“I won’t be forgotten. Everyone will remember. They’ll whisper about me. They’ll drive faster down dark roads…
because of me
.”

Big fucking deal.

“
I
got the fame. I’m the one who killed and killed, and no one knew. Now,
they know
.”

So the bastard had started the killing cycle over again. He’d taken Lily in Paradox. He’d called Kyle down first thing, all so he could get attention. Could get his fame before death.

Death is coming
.

“I chose my own end.” James said. “I’m not going out slowly, my body failing on me. I’ll be remembered for my power.”

Because it was all about the damn power. Kyle’s breath sawed in and out of his chest. He gathered his strength for an attack.

“Do you know why I came back?” James asked.

Cadence’s eyes were on the captain. “To destroy any evidence we hadn’t found yet.”

“Yes.” He seemed so pleased. Too pleased. “How long have we been talking?”

How long…?

“
Get out,
” Kyle gritted to Cadence as he understood just what was happening. There didn’t have to be trip wires.

Timers
.

James wasn’t going to let another stroke debilitate him. He was choosing his own death, a death with his girls.

She stumbled away from Anniston.

“One way in,” the captain whispered. “No trip wires, but I planted the explosives just the same. You won’t be getting out of that mountain entrance.”

He was sealing them all inside
.

“One way in,” Anniston muttered again.

Then the tunnel rocked with an explosion.

The blast threw Ben and Dani twenty feet. They’d just reached the mountainside entrance when the explosion hit. A fiery eruption sent the side of the mountain falling down and sealed the entrance.

“Dani!” He screamed her name as he lurched to his feet.

“Here.” She was pushing up, wincing, a few feet away.

He grabbed for the flashlight he’d dropped. The light hit her, and he could see the fear on her face.

“They were inside,” Dani whispered.

He pulled her to her feet. The rocks were still tumbling down. The area too unsteady to get close.

“He buried them in there.”

If there was evidence in that place, more bodies…

Anniston was trying to cover his tracks.

He’d do anything to keep his secrets, even if it meant sending more people to their graves.

“There’s another way.” He made himself say the words. Because they had to be true. “There’s another way inside. All of the caverns connect here. We’re gonna get that damn professor, and we’re gonna find them.”

There had to be a way inside.

If there wasn’t, then he’d carve a way in. He
would
get to his agents.

Cadence coughed, choking on the dust and soil that had fallen down on her. But…

She wasn’t hurt.

The dust and soil also weren’t the only things that had fallen on her.

“Kyle?”

He’d grabbed her, even as the explosion had thundered. He’d yanked her close. Thrown his body over hers.

His blood soaked her shirt.

“Kyle!” She twisted, pushing against him.

Where was her light? The chamber was pitch-black.

She fumbled out with her fingers, looking for her gun or light.

Her fingers curled around the rim of the flashlight. Kyle was a dead weight on top of her.

No, no, not dead. Not Kyle
.

He couldn’t be dead.

She hit the button for the flashlight. The beam flew across the room and caught Anniston’s back as he ran from the chamber.

If there’s only one way in, then where the hell is he going?

She saw her weapon. Stretched for it. Got it.
Hell, yes
. “Stop!” she yelled as she took aim.

Anniston didn’t stop.

She didn’t shoot. If she missed him or if the bullet went through him, more rocks could fall.

“Stop him,” Kyle growled as he heaved himself off her. “Go.”

Cadence didn’t run after him. Instead, her fingers flew over Kyle, checking his injuries.

The stab wound was vicious. Too deep. Too close to his heart.

“He can’t get away…”

“I can’t just leave you!”

“Get help…” Kyle’s fingers grabbed hers. “Dammit,
please
!
Stop him. Don’t let him get away
.”

Cadence leaned forward. Pressed a hard, quick kiss to Kyle’s lips. “I love you.”

Then she looked around the chamber. Found his light. Shoved the flashlight in his hand. One for him. One for her. “I’m coming back. We’re getting out of here. Keep the light—”
So I can find you
. She was afraid Kyle would pass out before she could return.
Too much blood loss
.

The light would guide her back.

Cadence stumbled to her feet and rushed after Anniston.

He hadn’t headed back to the entrance she and Kyle had used.
One way in, my ass
. The guy was rushing even farther down the main tunnel, away from the cave-in.

His light was shining, bobbing.

She raced after him. He wasn’t getting away from her. There was no way he’d escape after the hell he’d unleashed on them.

That’s your plan, isn’t it? To bury us in here. To destroy any remains from your victims and then to disappear
.

Only he wouldn’t really disappear. A guy like him wouldn’t be able to stop killing. He’d go someplace else. Start hunting again.

She wasn’t going to let that happen.

Cadence pushed forward.

And Anniston’s light vanished.

Kyle’s fingers sank into the dirt. His chest burned, his blood soaked him, but he wasn’t giving up. Inch by slow inch, he dragged himself up.

The light shone beside him, revealing the location of his fallen weapon.

He should have killed the bastard while he’d had the chance.

Kyle, I want to come home!

His sister’s cries seemed to echo through his mind as he rose to his feet.

Cadence was gone. Hunting Anniston.

She wouldn’t kill the man, though. She’d catch him. Try to turn him in.

I don’t want him in a cage
.

Kyle wanted the bastard in hell.

He pushed the gun in his holster. Staggered to the wall. The light trembled in his shaking grasp.

One step.

Two.

He held onto the rocks as he advanced.

He knew Anniston had sealed the main entrance to the caverns. He’d heard the thunder of the rocks falling. The SOB wouldn’t have retreated that way.

Kyle turned to the left when he eased out of the chamber. His steps were slow. He knew he’d be leaving a trail of blood as he walked.

But he wasn’t going to miss the endgame.

He wasn’t going to let Anniston win.